Daniel Snyder and Washington
The Washington Football Team has a new owner and probably soon a new name.
The NFL has finally successfully forced Dan Snyder to sell his football team for over $6 billion. The organization was sold to Josh Allen and the transaction is official. Everyone is happy that Snyder is out and season ticket sales have already surpassed all of 2022’s.
The optimism doesn’t stop with ticket holders and fans. It extends to local politicians, land owners, team President, players and coaches. Pretty much everyone is humming, “Ding Dong the witch is dead.”
You may notice that I’m not using the C-words because the new owners have indicated that the name could change (and should) shortly. No idea what the new name will be but anything is better that the C-words.
It is no coincidence that as soon as Snyder was officially out that the NFL invited investigator Mary Jo White to their league meeting to present her findings against how Snyder ran Washington and swindled the league during his 25-years of stewardship to all of the owners. This could pave the way for criminal action against Snyder by the league or perhaps just serve as justification by the league for the way they behaved.
The Statute of Limitations may have already expired on the financial crimes and the NFL imposed a laughable $60 million fine on Snyder on his way out the door. Team Snyder could easily argue that this $60 million and selling his team were the punishments the league levied on Snyder. And no more.
Reminder - Dan Snyder sold the team for over $6 billion. So that $60 million “punishment” basically equates to a less than 1% fine. Some punishment.
Either way Jon Gruden is not only vindicated but the chances of winning his lawsuit against the NFL and Dan Snyder keep looking better. Plus by having Mary Jo White report to all team owners behind closed doors the NFL may have damaged their demand to have Gruden act the same way in arbitration to Commissioner Roger Goodell. Why would a judge allow that if the league just showed they knew Snyder was guilty all along and withheld the evidence?
Still rooting for Gruden and hope the NFL’s depositions and “secret” emails in the Washington system get leaked to the press (and the public). Gruden is currently radioactive to NFL teams so hopefully he gets his pound of flesh (and a billion $ payday) from Roger Goodell and the NFL.
The NFL just quietly dealt with Stan Kroenke’s lawsuit loss to Saint Louis plus this Snyder mess so guessing the Gruden settlement could be small change. If Gruden isn’t determined to “burn the NFL to the ground.” We’ll see.
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